A fossilized dinosaur egg found in China

‘Baby Yingliang’ embryo fossil (Photo: Reproduction/University of Birmingham)

The China University of Geosciences in Beijing and the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom announced the discovery of a completely preserved 66 million-year-old fossilized dinosaur egg. It was confirmed that the fetus was about to be born and belonged to the group of oviraptorid theropods, distant relatives of birds.

The discovery of an embryo is extremely rare and researchers have dubbed it ‘Baby Yingliang’. Studies have shown that the baby rests his head on his stomach, with one leg on each side of his body and his back wrapped. Comparisons with other late-stage aviraptorid embryos indicate that this group developed an avian-like position towards the end of the incubation period. Until then, this position had not been identified in non-avian dinosaurs.

Baby Yingliang is approximately 27 cm long from head to tail and is placed inside a 17 cm long egg at the Yingliang Stone Museum of Natural History.

Illustrative representation of “Baby Yingliang” (Image: Reproduction/Birmigham University)